


A Moonless Night

by yikescaninot



Category: Haikyuu!!
Genre: Aged-Up Character(s), Aliens, Alternate Universe - Science Fiction, Alternate Universe - Space, Alternate Universe - Space Opera, Angst, Angst and Humor, Daichi wants a garden, Humor, Kuroo is Suffering™, M/M, Won't Be A Slow Burn
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2019-01-19
Updated: 2019-02-03
Packaged: 2019-10-12 12:25:47
Rating: Mature
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 2
Words: 15,931
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/17467517
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/yikescaninot/pseuds/yikescaninot
Summary: “No, you don’t understand. You’reSawamura Daichi!”“I’m aware of my name,Kuroo.” The man turned to look at Kuroo with a frank expression. “How are you?”He barbed slightly at the dismissive tone, then smirked slowly. “Somehow I always thoughttheSawamura Daichi would be taller.”Sawamura Daichi has been stranded on an abandoned planet for over four years after one of the planet's many storms wrecks his ship and grounds him indefinitely. When a passing ship picks up on his distress signal and comes to his aid, Daichi learns that much of his old life has changed. The Karasuno pilots have been disbanded and have scattered among the stars, while rumours spread of corruption in the Coalition. Daichi finds himself teaming up with the Cattail's crew and their charming captain, Kuroo Tetsurou, in order to return home, reunite his old team, and maybe save the day if there's time (after supper, of course).





	1. Chapter 1

**Author's Note:**

> This has been such a delight to write, and I hope you grow to care about this story as much as I do!  
> This is going to be a long one, and hopefully we're not _too_ worse for wear once it's finished.  
> Please enjoy.

A swirl of dust kicked up around his ankles when he stepped over the edge of the ravine, pulling himself up by the ropes he had clipped to the cliff face prior to descent. Soil and clay samples sat heavy against his back, tied down inside of a worn out pack in case the seals broke. It could have been attributed to a number of varying factors, but the soil on this planet had peculiar properties, and it was his job to figure out each of their nuances. Not shades of greys, browns and reds like Earth’s soil, this planet’s ground was varying shades of purples and blues. It was lovely, but the appeal had worn out long ago. If he hadn’t been alone on the planet maybe he would have taken in the view more fondly. Instead it just reminded him of finger paintings taped to the walls of a home he was so far away from. 

The air felt heavy but cold against the small areas of exposed skin on his cheeks and neck around his goggles and respirator. Without his respirator, he knew it would be difficult to breathe. It always was before a storm happened, and by the clouds he could see to the west of his ship, he was looking down the barrel of a nasty one. 

He lifted his hand, tapping the face of his watch. When the holographics popped up in front of his face, a quick scan told him there still hadn’t been any communication from others to his ship. It had been a long, long time since he allowed himself to be disheartened by that. Who knows? At this point, he might as well just do a one-man colonization and try to set up what he could in his shelter instead of waiting for either more supplies or a rescue pod. 

Sawamura Daichi had been posted to the dwarf planet for the past four Earth years -- or at least he believed it was four years. The watch he wore told him it had been four years and twenty-three days, give or take several hours, but he had noticed upon arriving that the storm clouds might be affecting the calibration of the device, not even taking into consideration time dilation. He had originally been sent to gather data, but one of the planet’s many storms had taken out the ship’s lower left engine, effectively grounding him until he was able to either break communications through the planet’s atmosphere, or someone came looking for him. It had also been a long, long time since he allowed himself to feel that kind of hope. He was alone, so he made due. 

He exited the watch’s interface and shifted the straps of his bag carefully before turning in the direction of his makeshift homestead. The ravine he had crawled out of was to his right, the walls of it uneven and pockmarked by hundreds of caves. To his left was the wall of a cliff, forming a part of the base of a mountain that overlooked most of this hemisphere. It made for an easy landmark from his ship, which is how he chose it as the site of his numerous excavations. Even though the planet’s surface seemed to be covered by pockets of lush forest surrounded by unforgiving deserts, it all started to look the same the longer he was in it. He travelled along the cliffs so often that he simply left the ropes clipped in place, knowing he’d soon return to scale down the side of the ravine to explore yet another cave. 

So far his explorations had resulted in nothing but inconsistencies. While one cave might have nutrient-rich soil and seemingly clean water, another could have rocks that, when stepped on, broke into a fine powder that ate away at the soles of his boots until washed off. When he had accepted the mission to this planet, Daichi hadn’t expected so much raw data, or so many puzzles. Under any other circumstances he might have welcomed the challenge.

The trek home was longer than he wanted it to be. The red sun was, thankfully, already descending against the horizon, but that also meant that visibility was low and Daichi wasn’t looking forward to the notion of crossing paths with the local wildlife. The scar covering part of his side and hip twinged with phantom pains at the thought. 

By the time he finally laid eyes on the dome structure that had been built around the back half of his ship, the temperature had plummeted and he could no longer feel his toes. He spared a quick look over his shoulder in the direction of the storm, heart sinking in his chest when he saw how close it had gotten. He thought the storms had been getting worse and more frequent in the past several months, but he didn’t have the proper equipment to run the full analyses required to confirm it. In the far distance beneath the rolling clouds, Daichi saw dark shadows travelling across the rock face. They were too far away to be of concern any time soon, and any threat they were capable of being was overshadowed by the looming storm. Nothing ventured out in a storm without reason, and the casters of those shadows were likely returning to shelter just as Daichi was.

Daichi entered the airlock in the ship’s underbelly and sighed in relief after repressurization when he could wiggle his toes in his boots. The airlock was less of a preventative measure and more of a necessity as, for only short periods of time, the planet’s atmosphere appeared survivable for humans. As he entered the cargo bay, he pulled his goggles and respirator from his face, hanging them up in an open locker. The latches of his black suit released with a soft hiss and he undid the fastenings from his collar down to his waist, letting the insulated material hang loose as he walked through the back of the ship to the dome. 

The dome was separated into three areas, each smaller than the last. The first was where he ran his tests, stored his samples and tried to repair what he could of the damaged engine. In the back portion of it, he had even rigged up a small greenhouse-like room. Its ceiling was more transparent than the other two sections, although each segment of it could be adjusted. Daichi liked looking at the sky while he worked, after all. His colleague used to say it made her feel smaller and their job more daunting to be working under such an immense view, but he didn’t agree. He wouldn’t have gotten into a spaceship unless he wanted to be out there, among the stars and possibilities. 

The second was his living quarters. The ship had a couple of bunk rooms as well, but it didn’t provide the comforts that a more luxury-class ship might have with only the bare essentials. The living quarters in the dome reminded him of the small apartment he had back home, and he had decorated it with the few items he had taken with him. It brought him a small amount of comfort when the days of radio silence had stretched into months, and eventually into years. 

The third was a small bathing room. After touching down, he had lucked out in discovering that the dwarf planet had underground water sources heated by thermal vents that stemmed from the core. He had lucked out even further that he’d found a well so close to the surface that the water was hardly any hotter than the hot springs back home. 

He deposited his bag on a table in the first room before making his way through to the second, only pausing long enough to remove his boots and suit outside the door. Habit took him to the communications panel in the small sitting area of the room. He activated it, adjusting several of the on-screen dials before pushing it to send out a signal. It was habit, Daichi thought. Nobody was coming. It was habit. 

Less than an hour later, he found himself back up at the head of his ship in the cockpit. He reclined in his flight chair, all of the panels open along the top and sides so that there was only the plating of the ship itself between him and the night sky. He hummed a tune he vaguely remembered as he ate a meal bar, eyes scanning the stars while he could before the storm overtook the ship. He could hear the faint pulsing of the communications signal through the dashboard in front of him. 

Not for the first time, he thought of home. He thought of his parents, and his younger brother and sister. He thought of those he had gone to flight school with, Asahi and Suga who couldn’t have been more different. He thought of the freaky duo that looked up to him like he was a  _ leader _ , just as he was getting ready to leave on this mission. 

He lifted the meal bar into view, keeping the stars his primary focus. If he ever got home, the first meal he would eat would be shoyu ramen. Sure, they’d probably put him in observation and have medically restricted meals prepared for him, but fuck that, Daichi decided. He wanted ramen, so that’s what he was going to have. The meal bars were supposed to be nutritionally balanced, anyways, even if they did taste a bit like flavoured cardboard. 

Time had a funny way of sneaking up on you when you were isolated in space. A minute could last for hours, and the reverse was just as true. He wasn’t sure how long he had been sitting in the cockpit watching the storm as it raged around his ship. The storms, although disastrous and natural terrors, were beautiful. It was like watching streaks of dark greys and purples rolling across the sky, the occasional shock of blues or whites darting in shaky lines through the clouds. 

The pulsing from the communications signal was comforting, if not a bit lonely, and Daichi could feel himself starting to fall asleep. 

“..-lo?” 

His eyes opened in surprise, looking around. When nothing else came, he sank back into his chair and sighed. It wouldn’t be the first time he’d imagined hearing a broadcast. 

“Hello?” There was a moment of static. “Hello? Groundcrew, do you copy?” 

If it were physically possible, Daichi would have sworn his heart had jumped out of his chest. He scrambled forward, smashing down the communications button to open the line. 

“This is Crow’s Wing. Is someone receiving my signal?” He grimaced at the way his voice cracked from disuse. At least he managed to keep the desperation out of his voice. Hallucinations didn’t need to know how much he missed contact.

“Crow’s Wing, we’re receiving your signal loud and clear. We can see your base now. Terrain clear for landing?” 

“I advise pulling back and waiting for the storm to pass. A lesser storm took out an engine.” 

“Kenma’ll make it. See ya in a few, captain.” 

He leaned back in the chair slowly when the communications line was cut. He went to comb his fingers through his hair, but instead clenched them into fists when he realized how badly his hands were shaking. Despite the man’s confidence in Kenma, whoever or whatever that was, Daichi knew the storms would prove a struggle. If someone was in fact coming, there was a good chance he would have to help them as well. He ran back to the door of the airlock, pulling on the spare suit and boots he had. He tried to alternate between the two suits, but this one was by far in better shape. He went back to the cockpit, watching as the belly of a larger ship than his own broke through the clouds. 

It looked to be a more exploratory-class ship than Daichi’s small research-focused ship, but it was hard to tell with the way the clouds rolled around the body of it. The red paint was chipped and worn in spots, but held its lustre. Near one of the engines, Daichi could see ‘Cattail’ painted in white and black, a silhouette of a cat beside the name. 

He gripped the edge of the consoles, holding his breath as he watched the clouds push the ship around. It stayed surprisingly level despite its rocking. Out of the corner of his eye he saw movement in the storm. A pack of four large creatures ambulated over the broken terrain, and the closer they got to Daichi’s ship, the louder their clicking mandibles were. Dread spiked down his spine in a chill and he grabbed his goggles, hurriedly latching his suit shut, and ran out of the airlock, anxiously hopping from foot to foot as it pressurized to the storm outside. 

Daichi’s hand closed over the baton strapped to his hip as he ran in the direction of the landing ship. He could see several faces pressed against the glass of the cockpit, looking down at him, and he waved an arm, gesturing as much as he could towards the creatures before turning his back to the ship. No matter the characters that were aboard the Cattail, the immediate threat was loping across the dusty terrain towards them all. The baton flicked out, extending to almost the length of his body, the ends lighting up an electrified blue. 

The creatures moved through the wall of dust kicked up by the landing ship, and Daichi braced his stance, waiting. They were large, the smallest still larger than a full-grown bear, and when travelling across land they were down on all six of their spider-like legs. He had only ever seen one close up, and that had been what he assumed was still at a juvenile stage of growth. When they were close enough to see the green ommatidial eyes, they stood on their back legs, upper body hunched over. Other than the weird clicking noise coming from their jaws and the fly-like eyes, Daichi thought they looked kind of similar to old drawings he’d found of a tsuchigumo. 

When the ship hit the ground, the creatures sprang forward, closing the distance quicky. Nearly thrown off balance by the impact, Daichi waited all of the span of a heartbeat, his hands gripping the staff a bit tighter, before he ran at the nearest creature. It reared up, one large limb swinging towards him with a lethal precision. His staff met the limb halfway, biting into the meat of it with the smell of burnt flesh. The creature howled, swinging another limb at his head. With a shout Daichi drove his weight forward, the weaponized end of his staff tearing through the limb, barely bringing the staff back up in time to block the incoming claw aimed for his throat.  

A shot rang past his shoulder, hitting one of the creatures in the chest that had been rearing to attack Daichi, too close for comfort when he was already grappling with the first. Despite the gaping hole and the viscous liquid that was steadily streaming from the wound, it dropped onto all fours and ran for the ship. As it drew even with Daichi and the creature he was currently locked with, Daichi turned, throwing his weight behind the staff and pushed the dismembered creature into the other, knocking them both back. He turned back to look at the other two who were hanging back, his chest heaving. Several more shots fired into the bulking masses beside him and beyond to the other two who took little damage but still turned and ran, clambering over the nearest stone ridge and disappearing from sight. 

A hand grabbed Daichi’s shoulder as he was catching his breath, and he spun, bringing the staff up with lethal precision to the man’s throat, the glowing edge a hair’s breadth away from burning flesh. The man’s amber eyes widened in surprise, and he slowly took a step back, hands moving up above his shoulders as if in apology. A gun was hanging loose around his torso by a strap. Daichi blinked a few times, swallowing heavily before lowering the staff. He deactivated it and pushed it closed, returning it to the sling on his hip before pushing his goggles up, the lights from the new ship enough to see by. 

He took in the sight of the other man, mentally storing away the thought that the other was too damn attractive for his own good, despite the ridiculous style of his hair. His red suit was newer, and showed little wear from what Daichi could see as it was undone to the man’s waist with the sleeves tied there. With the suit folded down, it left his lean but muscular arms bare, the black shirt he wore almost a second skin. The tech he sported looked far more advanced than what Daichi had been outfitted with and concern tore through him briefly that he had been stranded on the dwarf planet longer than he had thought. 

“This planet was written off as void of life…” the man trailed off, sounding wary. Daichi recognized the voice as the one through the communications line. “Is it just you here?” He looked around briefly as if expecting to see other crew members before returning to watching Daichi closely.

“V-void of life?” Daichi echoed, everything slowly whirring to a stop around him. He dropped to his knees in disbelief, not even noticing the way the dust swirled around him, or the way the man in front of him flinched towards him. “They  _ knew _ I was here. I’ve been waiting...” He looked up at the man, the weight of the statement heavy on his chest. “They left me here to die?” 

“Kuroo, oxygen levels are getting low.” A voice echoed out of the ship, most likely from an intercom system. “Storm is getting worse. You need to get inside.” 

“C’mon,” the man - Kuroo? - said as he pulled Daichi up onto his feet. He gently pushed Daichi back towards his own ship, following close behind, careful to watch in case he was going to drop again. Daichi’s hands and shoulder nearly burnt from the contact. It had been so long since he had any sort of physical contact with another human. Had people always been so warm? There was so much new information to process from such a brief interaction that Daichi could only allow himself to be directed, his mind buzzing. 

“Kuroo, what are you doing?” 

Kuroo waved an arm in dismissal, opening the airlock and helping the shell shocked captain in. Once they were in the body of the grounded ship, he patted the man’s cheek gently to get his attention. “Okay, buddy. You’re alive. We’re here, and we can bring you back to where you come from. Do you have tea or something? That usually helps, right? How can I help you right now?” 

The man looked up at Kuroo for a moment then laughed faintly, as if he couldn’t believe Kuroo had asked. “Yeah, I have tea,” he mumbled before heading back through the ship towards the dome attachment they had used as a landmark when guiding the ship down. 

Kuroo followed slowly, taking in the state of the ship. It had obviously been planetside for some time and needed servicing something fierce, but it looked like it had been a reliable ship at one point. If the man he was following had been diligent about cleaning once, it certainly didn’t seem that way now. Kuroo didn’t blame him. The broken look in his eyes when he realized nobody had been looking for him would probably haunt Kuroo for years. Kuroo couldn’t begin to imagine what the man was feeling. 

When they stepped into the dome, Kuroo looked around in amazement. From what he could see the man had similar, albeit outdated, equipment to what they had aboard the Cattail, though the Crow’s Wing seemed outfitted for a more science-based, data-collection type of mission. To the side was what he assumed the damaged engine from his ship, dismantled almost to the point of being just spare parts. He frowned then jumped slightly when the man stopped him. Without a word he watched the man remove his boots and suit before making to do the same, hanging them up beside the two black ones on a row of hangers. Was he really the only one out here? 

He went to the communications panel, observing it a moment. He thought back to the man who had run out of his ship to fight off four aliens alone to give him and his crew a chance to land safely. That didn’t strike him as a man who wanted to die. Who had given up hope. He accessed the interface and honed the settings to open a communication line to the Cattail and them. 

A bored looking blonde appeared on the screen, looking up from a handheld device he held. “Kuroo,” he acknowledged. 

“Kenma, have you contacted Nekomata?” At the nod, Kuroo hummed slightly and looked over to where the man was off to the side of the room staring down at two mugs as the tea leaves brewed. “I’ll wait out the storm here. Keep me posted.” 

The communication line cut off and he chuckled faintly. Kenma never was one to drag out conversations. 

“So what’s your name, captain?” Kuroo asked as he took a moment to look around the living quarters he was in. He froze upon seeing a picture of two recognizable people in a picture with the man that he was currently with. Whirling around to look at the man again, he gaped. “You’re Sawamura Daichi.” 

The man only hummed in response, but it was a flat sound, more of a grunt of acknowledgement. 

“No, you don’t understand. You’re  _ Sawamura Daichi _ !” 

“I’m aware of my name,  _ Kuroo _ .” The man turned to look at Kuroo with a frank expression. “How are you?” 

He barbed slightly at the dismissive tone, then smirked slowly. “Somehow I always thought  _ the _ Sawamura Daichi would be taller.” 

Daichi scowled and tossed the tea leaves into a small compost station before grabbing the mugs and sitting down.  

“I’m five centimetres above average height.” 

“Sounds like a justification for the short if I ever heard of one.” 

“You can see yourself out any time, you know.” 

“No way. Now that I’ve found you, Sawamura, I fully intend on asking you some questions, and I’m sure you’re looking for some answers.” 

Daichi sighed, wiping a hand down his face, the lines of his shoulders held down by an invisible weight Kuroo could only guess at. “Could you not?” He implored. “I’m tired. It’s technically nighttime here. I’ve been climbing around caves all day, and I’ve just been told that I was left for dead. If you’re waiting out the storm here, we’ve got at least a day and a half left to talk. For now, let me enjoy my tea in silence. It’s been enough of a day without you and your hair wanting to play twenty questions, don’t you think?” 

“Sawamura, the only reason you were ‘left for dead’ is because everyone thought you  _ were _ dead.” He paused a moment then added while trying to flatten the unruly bedhead, “and what’s wrong with my hair?” 

“You can’t honestly tell me you’ve gone your entire life thinking that-” he gestured with a flourish to Kuroo’s signature style- “was a good idea?” Without waiting for a response, Daichi snorted and put his head in his hands. His shoulders were shaking and Kuroo startled, panicking at the idea of Daichi crying, but relaxed when he realized the man was laughing. 

“Can I ask you something?”

“If it’s about your hair, I’ve got a razer in the back.” 

“I did not come to this planet to be disrespected like this, Sawamura,” Kuroo said with a scowl, though he was biting back his own laughter. 

When Daichi saw that Kuroo was, in fact, teasing and not at all offended, he smiled tiredly. “What is it?” 

“What happened to you? How’d this happen?” Kuroo asked, his smile gone and instead replaced with a solemn, curious expression. 

Daichi looked down into his tea again. He turned the mug slowly between his palms before letting out a breath, exhaling slowly between pursed lips. He lifted the mug, drinking down the last mouthful before just enjoying the residual warmth in the dish. 

“Director Ukai assigned me to a data-collection mission. Based on findings on similar planets in this system he had reason to believe that we could use my findings to help produce crops of a better quality, at a larger scale. The mission should have only taken me about eighteen months so I didn’t even think twice about it. Of course I’d go. Originally it was supposed to be my flight partner, Suga, and I but Suga-” Daichi frowned slightly. He shook his head, gripped the mug a bit tighter then continued. “Something came up and Suga was unable to go with me. It was the morning of launch so we didn’t have anyone else prepped for the mission. I figured, what the hell, it’s only eighteen months, I can do that by myself. Would I go stir crazy and end up talking to myself? Yeah probably, but I’d do it anyways.

“The flight here was uneventful. Textbook, even. Entering the upper atmosphere was a bit rocky, but nothing I couldn’t handle until I’d gotten closer to the ground. What we hadn’t calculated was the magnitude of the storms the planet was capable of producing. I’m honestly surprised you were able to land your ship, Kuroo. This is worse than the one that grounded me. You saw my engine. I’ve tried rebuilding it, but without the proper tools, or any new material, I’ve been stuck waiting. That initial storm that took out my engine must have also damaged the range booster for the communications system. You’re the first person I’ve spoken to since landing here.” Daichi’s frown deepened. For a split second he wondered if he had said too much, let his thoughts run too unfiltered after so much time alone. His eyes closed with a faint grimace. “They knew where I was.”

Kuroo’s heart clenched in his chest, and he forced himself to drink some of his tea. “A lot has happened in the past four years, Sawamura. Director Ukai isn’t heading Karasuno anymore. He’s been out of commission for just about as long as you’ve been MIA.” 

“Then who?” 

“I thought we weren’t playing twenty questions?” Kuroo tried a smile but it fell flat. “Karasuno pretty much disbanded after Ukai fell ill. Nobody stepped up to take his place and competitive bids were placed on the outstanding missions. Some pilots signed on with different teams, some disappeared, some turned in their helmets and joined civilian life.” 

There was a moment of silence where Daichi just stared at Kuroo. Kuroo was just about to say something else when Daichi held a hand up to stop him and said, “I think I’m going to go to bed now. There should be an extra bed roll in that cupboard.”

“Sawamura, wait.”

Daichi looked back towards Kuroo, half pushed out of his chair. Kuroo knew the other didn’t want to talk anymore, didn’t want to hear any more of the bad news, but he hoped that the desire to be around someone else after all that time would win out.

“Will you talk with me a bit more? I want to find out if all of these stories I’ve heard about you are true or not.” 

“Stories?” 

Kuroo nodded, a more genuine smile on his face now. “Suga is pretty fond of you, captain. Talks about you any chance he can get. He even pushed for a search and rescue crew for so long until his ship was the only one left going out.” Daichi was silent for long enough that Kuroo’s smile faded and turned into a concerned frown. “Sawamur- ah!” He jumped up when he saw tears trail down the other’s cheeks. 

Daichi’s mouth pressed in a firm line, blinking hard a few times before wiping a forearm over his face, angry at himself for crying. If he was being honest with himself, the news that Suga hadn’t given up on him was the biggest relief of the day. He hadn’t expected a cavalry rescue, but he had  _ hoped _ beyond all hope that his best friend was watching the stars for him. He barely registered the movement before his head was being guided to rest against Kuroo’s torso, the other’s arms around his shoulders and rubbing comforting circles against his back. It gave him pause, but he twisted in his chair to move his arms around the other’s narrow waist, hungrily accepting the comfort with the desperation of a person touch-starved for over four years. He felt fingers card through his hair and he closed his eyes, holding onto Kuroo like a lifeline. 

There was a soft beep as the communications line rang. Going unnoticed by Daichi in his state, Kuroo pulled the holographic interface closer and accepted the signal. Kenma’s face appeared. He didn’t look as bored as he usually did, a glimmer of amusement in his eyes. There were only a small handful of people who could put that look on his face. 

“He wants to talk to you.” 

Kuroo nodded, letting his hand drop from Daichi’s hair to continue rubbing his back. There was a click and Kenma’s face was replaced by another, soft-featured with grey hair. 

“Kuroo, you were supposed to- Daichi?!” 

Daichi’s head snapped up at the voice, and he pushed Kuroo away, instantly scrambling to his feet to get closer to the screen. “Suga-” 

“Holy fuck-” 

“Is it-”

“You’re alive-” 

“How did-”

“Asahi, get-” 

“Woah, both of you take a breath,” Kuroo interrupted, stepping back to Daichi’s side. He set a hand on Daichi’s shoulder, squeezing gently. 

Daichi nodded, and took a shaky breath, wiping a forearm across his eyes again before grinning at his best friend. “You’re okay,” he said with immeasurable relief. 

“You’re one to talk!” Suga pouted, his voice watery. “Have you been crying? Kuroo, what did you do to him? Daichi, do I need to shave his head?” 

Kuroo squawked and put a hand on his head. “Why is it always my hair with you people? I didn’t do anything!” 

Suga’s holographic eyes narrowed on Kuroo before turning back onto Daichi and softening even as they took in as much as they could. “I’m so glad to see you, Daichi. You have no idea how hard it’s been not knowing where you were. I always believed you were alive.”

“I’ll be home soon, Suga.” 

“Not soon enough. Kuroo, you better not let anything happen to him.” Suga frowned, pointing at Kuroo, who held his hands up defensively. 

“You know I won’t.” Kuroo turned to pick up the mugs from the table and take them to the kitchenette, mumbling under his breath, “right after he asks if I made Sawamura cry. Tch.” 

“He’s a good guy, Daichi. Annoying at times, but good. And his crew’s dependable. He’ll bring you home.” 

Daichi nodded, wanting to ask so many questions, but not knowing where to start. As if seeing the turmoil on his face, Suga held a hand up. 

“We have a lot to catch up on later, Daichi, but right now I have to go. I’m about to go off planet. I was just calling to make sure Kuroo hadn’t forgotten our deal.” 

“Yeah, yeah,” Kuroo called from where he stood washing out the cups. “And don’t worry, I’ll bring your boyfriend home to you.” 

“He’s not my boyfriend,” both Daichi and Suga corrected before looking at each other and chuckling. Suga nodded to them before the connection closed again. 

Daichi reached a hand out for his chair, lowering back to sit in it slowly. He looked towards Kuroo, expression something between shocked and elated. 

“How do you know Suga?” He asked after a moment of silence. 

“He ran into one of my crew, Yaku, during one of his search flights for you. Thick as thieves since.” 

Daichi nodded, looking back towards the communications station. “Thank you, Kuroo,” he whispered thickly. 

“Nah,” Kuroo dismissed, shaking his head. “Don’t even think about thanking me until we get you home. Besides, it’s really nothing to thank me over. I didn’t know he was going to check in, but if you really insist we can say it’s return payment for you fighting off two of those  _ things _ earlier. Impressive, by the way.” 

Daichi looked down at his hands. Was it impressive? Everything he had done on this planet outside of mission parameters was done out of necessity. He thought back to the past four years, thinking of every failed test or small success, of the wildlife he had seen, and the new plants. He traced a scar along the side of his left hand absently, recalling how a particularly nasty vine had sliced into the meat when he tried cutting a piece off. It had been part of one failed excursion to find edible vegetation. With Suga’s rations he had enough to last him the better part of the four years, but not knowing how long he would actually be stuck planetside he had wanted options. He felt a finger flick against his forehead and he blinked in surprise, pulled out of his thoughts by Kuroo who was leaning over him. 

“No point getting lost in your head, captain. Let’s get you to bed so that we can start going through diagnostics first thing in the morning. Kenma should be able to direct most of the instruction through comms so we can get off this planet right after the storm.” 

“Kenma is your pilot?” 

Kuroo nodded. “And a damn good engineer. He’s the heart of our crew, really. He makes sure everything operates and flows properly.” 

Daichi hummed in acknowledgement before standing slowly. Now that the adrenaline was wearing off, he could feel his body being weighed down by the desire to sleep. He gestured for Kuroo to follow him and stopped to grab the other futon from the cupboard he had mentioned before going into the sleeping quarters. He dropped the futon on the side of the room that had been left empty -- the side that should have been Suga’s -- before padding back over to his own futon and sitting on it. 

“You in the habit of inviting strange men to your bedroom, Sawamura?” Kuroo smirked before setting up his bed. 

“Yes,” he started, amused when Kuroo’s head whipped around to look at him in surprise. “Because I’ve really had the luxury of another person’s company while on this planet. If you’re that opposed to sharing a space with me, you can always move back into the sitting room.” He chuckled faintly before scooting back and pulling his blanket over himself. He wiped a hand over his face tiredly, watching Kuroo although his blinks were getting longer each time. “What deal did you make with Suga?” 

“You’re going to use up all your questions, captain.” Kuroo chuckled faintly, crawling into his own bed. “Any time we fly through this section, and the neighbouring ones, we’re supposed to keep an eye out for you, or the other Karasuno pilots. He’s trying to find everybody.”

“It’s not smart to make deals with someone who has the face of an angel, you know,” Daichi mumbled through a yawn. 

“He’s not so bad.”

“Good. Neither are you. You can stay.” 

Kuroo’s brows furrowed slightly at the other’s words. He looked over to the other bed but saw Daichi’s chest rise and fall in slow, even breaths and knew the other to be asleep already. He looked back up to the ceiling, his mind racing and nowhere near ready to fall asleep. There was so much about this situation that he needed answers for. 

It had been pure happenstance that they had managed to latch onto Daichi’s weak communications signal. Kuroo figured Daichi had been right when he said the range booster had been knocked out, because had Kenma not been testing out the changes he had made to their receiver he doubts they would have heard the static plea. He was confident that no other ship would have been able to pick it up, either. Daichi had won the lottery of possibilities with the Cattail finding him, and once that was explained to him tomorrow, Kuroo was worried about how he would react. So much had changed in the last couple of hours for him that knowing how impossible it was to have happened… Kuroo shook his head. 

He took in the sight of Daichi sleeping for a moment before closing his eyes, allowing his mind to wander to all of the questions about the planet and Daichi’s time on it that he would want to ask in the morning. 


	2. Chapter 2

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Daichi teaches Kuroo a bit more about the planet he's been stranded on and himself. Kuroo learns to start opening up, and tries something purple.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> It's starting to get busier at work, so this may be a bit slower in updating as I juggle this and an original project of mine.   
> There's... a lot in this chapter, so please don't hesitate to reach out if you have any questions or want any clarification!   
> Thanks for your continued interest in AMN! ヽ(•̀ω•́ )ゝ✧

Daichi woke up sore and still feeling fatigued, so he stayed bundled in his blanket a moment, just running over his daily tasks. He would need to go through his rations and see how much foraging he would have to do to restock his small kitchenette, and the greenhouse probably had a couple things ready for harvest. The analysis from the most recent cave would most likely be done that morning so he wouldn’t be able to venture out too far. All data would have to be backed up to his ship’s storage drives and he should probably rebuild his engine, or at least try to. 

He stretched his toes before unfurling his legs from the fetal position he had worked himself into, pulling the blanket down from around his face. The light coming through the plated ceiling was dimmer than it usually was, but that wasn’t unusual for a storm. At the reminder of the storm, and the day before, he sprung upright, turning quickly to look across the room. A weight he hadn’t known he’d been carrying lifted from his chest seeing the man sprawled out in the second bed, the pillow folded around his head in a way that made Daichi think he usually slept with two. Daichi leaned back against the wall he’d made his bed beside and covered his face with his hands, trying to suppress the relieved laughter that started bubbling out of him. 

“What’s so funny, captain?” came Kuroo’s sleep-heavy voice, muffled by the pillow. 

Daichi lowered his hands and looked across the room, meeting amber eyes. He grinned so wide his eyes creased. “Yesterday actually happened,” he explained. “You’re here. Suga’s alive. I might actually get to go home.” 

Kuroo pushed himself up to sit as well, running a hand through his hair with a yawn before he smiled at Daichi. “Sawamura, you  _ are _ going home. I wouldn’t go back on my word. Now,” he said, clapping his hands together and looking around. “What’s breakfast look like? Something purple?” 

“If that’s what you want,” Daichi chuckled with a shrug and got up. He moved slowly at first, grimacing at how stiff his legs and shoulders were from spelunking before walking out to the kitchenette. 

He opened one of the refrigerated drawers and poked through until he found two large fruit. They were about the size of both his fists pressed together, and looked similar to that as well with the way that it pinched around the middle into two halves. The outer peel of it was a dark purple that, under the light above him, looked almost reddish in hue, and was pockmarked like an orange. He twisted the two halves until it tore apart cleanly. Inside the meat of the fruit was a soft pink, almost white, and had the consistency of a banana. Taking a knife from another drawer, he made quick work of slicing the fruit and removing the peels, putting it all on one larger plate. 

Kuroo watched with interest, his eyes following the fruit curiously. “Is it comparable to anything on Earth?” 

Daichi wrinkled his nose slightly as he thought a moment, then he shook his head. “The closest thing I could compare it to would be a pear?” He ventured, head tilted. “But not quite. It’s sweet, but it’s not overwhelmingly sweet.” He shrugged and took down two mugs, making them tea before ushering Kuroo to the table and setting everything down. 

“So what do you do with the peel?” Kuroo asked as he picked up a piece of the fruit and popped it into his mouth. His head tilted with a short hum, as though he were deciding what he thought of the new food. After a moment he nodded to himself and reached for another. 

Daichi gestured back towards where a box sat beside one of the counters. It was as tall as the counter, but only a fraction as wide. “That composts it for me, and I use the refuse in my greenhouse.” 

“You have a greenhouse, too?” Kuroo’s eyebrows shot up, impressed. 

“It’s not quite as large as you’re probably imagining. Maybe about half the size of the sleeping quarters. It’s back in the lab. Once the tests have been run on soil samples, and they’ve been confirmed nutrient-rich, I use them there or take them back outside. I only have so much space here after all.” 

Kuroo nodded thoughtfully as he ate his half of the fruit. “Have you just been eating fruit since you landed? Does it have enough of our required vitamins?” 

Daichi shook his head, licking his thumb clean before leaning back in his chair, missing the way Kuroo’s eyes followed the action. “No, I’ve been able to go hunting occasionally. It’s hard knowing what wildlife here is food-worthy and what isn’t. Those creatures that attacked while you were landing, for example. Great as jerky or slow-cooked like a roast. Horrible any other way. I think I actually made myself sick the first time I tried making anything with it.” He laughed a bit. “Otherwise I’ve just been pacing myself with those god-awful meal bars and whatever vegetation I can find.” 

“You’ve been living off meal bars?” Kuroo made a noise of disgust. “I couldn’t do it. You’re a stronger man than I, Sawamura.” 

“It’s not like I had much choice, Kuroo,” Daichi said simply, though his eyes had that thousand-yard stare Kuroo was starting to realize Daichi took on every time he went into his own head, reliving the past four years. 

“Let’s go see about your engine,” Kuroo suggested, reaching over to nudge Daichi’s elbow gently - just enough to distract him from his thoughts. 

Daichi blinked and nodded after a moment. “Sure. Do you think Kenma will be up yet?” he asked, glancing towards one of the panels in the ceiling that was dimmed to see the sky. 

Kuroo barked out a laugh and shook his head. “Not a chance, but he won’t be too grumpy with us if we give him a toy to play with.” 

Daichi nodded and finished his tea before getting up to bring the plate and mugs back to the counter. He popped the top off the composter and dropped the peels into it before quickly rinsing off the mugs and plate, placing them in a sanitizer. 

“How much has changed since I’ve been here?” Daichi asked Kuroo as they walked out of the living quarters. He stepped into his boots just outside of the door, frowning at the holes he could feel forming in the soles. 

“A lot. The tech has advanced quite a bit, and that’s just what’s on the public market. We’re not talking private-sector upgrades, like what Kenma does. That stuff’s insane.” Kuroo grinned over at Daichi before leaning over the disassembled engine to see what they were working with. “As far as politics go, it’s still crusty old men, and their alien-equivalents, heading the Coalition. There are younger people with Seats now, though, so maybe that’ll change the next time there’s an election. They’ve opened up trade routes with two new systems which has been good, but you know how people can get with new species.” Kuroo rolled his eyes slightly, waving a piece as if to emphasize his point. 

Daichi hummed in response as he started piecing together what was in front of him, his hands confident in the movements as he’d done it numerous times before. “You said Suga was trying to find the rest of the Karasuno pilots and had you keeping an eye out for them.” Daichi’s hands stopped, and he looked to Kuroo. “Did something happen other than Ukai leaving to make them scatter?” 

“I mean, there were whispers of something shady going on, but I don’t know any concrete details. Suga’s been trying to find out what’s been going on. He might be able to tell you.” Kuroo looked over to Daichi, studying the other man for a moment. “I’m not sure if it’s just shock, or what, but you’re handling all of this pretty well.” 

“Am I supposed to act like some wailing war widow?” Daichi frowned, looking down at his hands. “None of the things that you say have changed, have actually changed for me yet. My siblings are still kids. Karasuno is still together. Suga’s probably punching Asahi for acting like a coward.” 

“Well that last one definitely hasn’t changed any.” 

Daichi smiled wryly before setting the pieces he held back down, mouth slackening into a small frown. “I’m not sure what you want me to say, Kuroo. What am I supposed to do? Ask ten million questions and stress about my inevitable reintegration to society? There’s no use working myself up about all of these changes before I have a chance to see them for myself. I believe you when you say that a lot has changed. It would be impossible for things to be the same after four years. I’m just not going to get ahead of myself yet. I may be in this constant state of shock and ‘this might as well happen,’ but I’m just trying to get through it. When it hits, then maybe I’ll be a wailing war widow.” 

Kuroo nodded solemnly. “I offer my services if you need a chest to cry into.” 

“Don’t you mean shoulder to cry on?”

“You’d have to be able to reach it in order to cry on it, Sawamura.” Kuroo smirked then grunted when Daichi elbowed his side. He laughed, an arm tucked against his side. When he looked down to Daichi, his eyes were soft with concern. “I’ll answer ten million and more if it helps you feel better about what you’ll be going back to, Sawamura.” 

So many words came to mind, but unable to put them in the right order, Daichi could only stare at Kuroo when the other turned back towards the table of parts. It was hard not to. There was something about the man that made Daichi want to stay close, to spend hours conversing, to be held. That thought gave Daichi pause. He had been alone for four years, and Kuroo wasn’t the sly miscreant his appearance made him out to be. He was thoughtful, even when he was teasing, and it gave Daichi an unexpected sense of contentment. It was only natural that he would want to stay close to the person who would get him out of a shitty situation, right? There might be a name for that. He frowned to himself before shaking his head and clearing his throat. 

“Have you seen enough of this to justify waking Kenma up?” 

“I think so, yeah.” Kuroo nodded, more to himself than Daichi, and went to the communications panel at the end of the next table over. He paused when he saw a closed off section of the lab and pointed over to it, looking back to Daichi. “Is that the greenhouse?”

Daichi looked up, blinking, then looked in the direction Kuroo was pointing. He nodded. “Yeah, it goes back to the dome wall. I can show you if Kenma needs a minute to look at everything.” 

The smile that Kuroo gave him made Daichi’s heart do funny things in his chest and he looked back down to his engine quickly, scratching at the back of his neck awkwardly. He didn’t look back up until he heard Kenma’s bored voice. 

“What is it, Kuroo?”

“I need you to look at Sawamura’s engine and see what we can do about it.” Kuroo pulled the projected screen over to the table Daichi was at and pushed it up, angling it so that Kenma, with ruffled hair and pillow creases on his cheek, was looking directly down at the pieces. 

A tired sigh came from the screen but there was no argument. Kuroo nudged Daichi’s elbow then nodded his head back towards the greenhouse. “We’ll let him make up a plan of attack before we jump in. We’ll just piss him off if we try to move things around right now. Maybe if we’re lucky, he’ll come over and do it for us.” 

“I wouldn’t advise moving around in the storm unless out of absolute necessity. The only reason we were able to move as freely as we did yesterday is because your ship displaced a lot of the wind and sand. Whatever he needs to do in person can wait until the storm has passed. One or two more days planetside won’t kill anybody.” Daichi paused a moment, his hand on the greenhouse door. He looked back to Kuroo. “As long as nobody wanders off, that is,” he added before walking into the enclosed room. 

Kuroo looked after Daichi in silent shock at the offhand way he hinted at the dangers of the planet. It wasn’t the first time he found himself wondering how Daichi had made it through the past four years as wholly as he did, and it probably wouldn’t be the last, though he started wondering if Daichi would be able to return fully. He followed the other into the greenhouse and looked around himself in awe. The room was lined with shelving of various depths and heights, allowing for the growth of different plants, some of which he recognized and others he figured must have been indigenous to the planet. 

“Like I said, one of the things I was sent here to do was to find resources to help our own food crops. I won’t allow them to strip-mine this planet, but I’ve found enough to help our own.” Daichi spoke calmly as he moved around the room, checking water levels for each of the plants. “Plus there are several plants from this planet that will grow well on Earth, and I’ve been preserving some of the seeds to take back.”

Near the door where Kuroo stood, there was a plant that had dozens of thin tendrils swaying from a gnarled looking stalk. Next to it was a row of smaller potted plants that looked similar to succulents but were varying shades of yellows and oranges with bright red splatter marks on them. In the corner there was a taller plant, thinner at the base before ballooning out at the top, several longer branches bending down to make it look nearly like a small tree-sized mushroom. Some plants were flowering, others looked dead but he could tell were alive based on the growth charts tacked next to them. Along the back wall were plants that must have come from Earth as seeds; Kuroo recognized most of them. There were several stalks of grains, corn, and two potato plants. A shallower pot held strawberries and upon seeing that, Kuroo took one off the plant carefully and popped it into his mouth, grinning at Daichi when he snorted. Beneath the strawberries was a row filled with a plant he didn’t recognize right away. Kuroo gestured to it questioningly. 

“Ah, that’s a camellia sinensis.” At Kuroo’s blank stare, he chuckled faintly and rubbed the back of his neck. “Tea plant.” 

“Well that would explain why you still have tea.” 

Daichi laughed a bit and nodded, his hand still on the back of his neck. He took a moment to look around the greenhouse, stepping in a slow circle as he took it all in, his expression softening. He wore the fond look of a man proud of his work. “I might try converting the main cabin room on my ship so I can bring this all back with me. I’ve put so much work into all of these. It would be a shame to have to leave them here.” 

“We’ll figure it out. If nothing else, we have a storeroom off our main cargo bay that’s climate controlled. We can secure everything in there.” Kuroo watched Daichi move around. When the other stepped too close, he reached a hand out to grab Daichi’s arm gently before the other could step back into him accidentally. To his surprise, Daichi didn’t pull away, but instead leaned a bit more into the touch, still looking at the plants. He tried not to get too ahead of himself; Daichi would understandably be touch-starved. Despite that thought, Kuroo enjoyed the weight behind the lean. 

“If I’m not interrupting, captains,” Kenma’s voice came through the greenhouse walls. Kuroo could tell that the pilot was amused with himself. ‘The little shit,’ he thought. 

Daichi cleared his throat before walking out of the room, holding the door for Kuroo. “Not at all, Kenma,” he said, looking over towards where the man’s face was floating near the engine. “What’s the verdict?” 

“I’m not sure how you did it, but you royally fucked your engine. I can try and fix it with spare parts that we have, but I’d need to be there to do it. My apologies, Sawamura, but I don’t know what your capabilities are, and I don’t trust Kuroo to do it right.” 

“You wound me, Kenma,” Kuroo snorted before shaking his head. “That’s kind of what I expected. Is there anything we can do before the storm lets up?” 

“Sawamura, if you can grant me access to your ship’s diagnostics and data files, I can start creating secured backups and seeing what else needs to be repaired or serviced before we leave.” Kenma must have noticed the hesitation that Daichi felt, because he continued. “Also Suga left a message overnight. I can patch it through momentarily.” 

Daichi nodded. A couple minutes later, he was back in his seat in the cockpit. Kenma’s face appeared on the comm screen, waiting, although Daichi couldn’t tell if he was bored or just being that patient. Chewing on the inside of his cheek, his hands hesitated over the console. Was he really just about to hand over four years worth of his life to strangers? Sure, Suga might know them, but he didn’t. What if they took the information and left him there? Kenma seemed smart enough to fully incapacitate him without even setting foot on his ship. Was he really willing to risk that? 

“Everything okay, Sawamura? Kenma’s not staring at you funny, is he?” came Kuroo’s voice from behind him as the other entered the cockpit. Kuroo dropped into the copilot’s chair, his long form stretching out, legs crossed at his ankles. He seemed to watch Daichi out of the corner of his eye, but didn’t comment directly on Daichi’s unease.

“No,” he mumbled. “Everything’s fine.” He keyed in the last of the code that would allow Kenma access to everything, and watched as a holographic cat appeared and started rolling around on the dash. He smiled weakly at it, watching as the palm-sized calico moved, before looking back towards Kenma’s appearance. “And the message?” 

Kenma nodded and the communication screen clicked off for a second before Suga’s appearance popped up. 

“ _ This better be recording _ ,” the silver-haired man grumbled. Behind him, Asahi was cleaning some sort of equipment and frequently glancing to the screen Suga sat in front of. They appeared to be on a ship, but it wasn’t one that Daichi recognized, so it must not have been one of Karasuno’s. “ _ Daichi, I’d hoped to catch you again before we go dark, but nobody picked up on the Cattail. Tch. We’ll hopefully be back in ten Earth days, and I’m hoping to see your face when we do, which means Kuroo better bring you home pronto. We still have a  _ lot  _ to talk about. And, Kuroo, if you’re there with Daichi, you behave. I don’t want to hear how you defiled my poor, sweet captain. _ ” Behind Suga, Asahi choked on a laugh, whatever he said going unheard by their communication system’s mic. Whatever it was had Suga grinning, brown eyes glinting. “ _ See you soon! _ ” The screen went dark. 

Daichi leaned back in his chair. Asahi had a new scar. From what he could see, it was down the side of his face from temple to jaw, leaving a white mark through his beard. He looked tired but alert. It was a new look for Daichi’s old friend, and it came as a surprise to not see the nervous giant that sputtered in embarrassment around one of the younger, more excitable pilots. Suga, thankfully, looked pretty much the same, though he would warrant that, in person, his best friend would be much different. Time would tell. 

He tilted his head back against the headrest of the chair, looking up through the panels at the swirling storm above them. Daichi had never hated space. He had wondered at the infinite expanse and had wanted to travel it for as long as he could remember. Now he felt himself resenting the distance between him and everyone he loved more than ever. 

“You sure everything’s okay?” Kuroo frowned, looking over at him. 

“It’ll be better when I get home and can see them with my own eyes.” 

Kuroo nodded in understanding and moved his hands behind his head, also leaning back in order to look up. 

“So… I take it you have a bit of a reputation?” Daichi arched a brow, looking over at Kuroo. 

“Some people seem to think so, that’s for sure.” 

“What do  _ you _ think?” 

Kuroo looked over, meeting Daichi’s steady gaze with a crooked smile. “I think I’m just a nice guy. If people want to think I’m an easy lay because of that, then let them try and embarrass themselves. I have more pressing matters.” 

“Like?” 

“Do you really have such a low opinion of me, Sawamura?” 

“I haven’t known you long enough  _ to _ have an opinion, Kuroo.” 

“Now that’s not honest at all.” Kuroo, with his tone suddenly serious, leaned his head back looking up at the storm once more. “It’s human nature to make assumptions, to come up with an opinion and expectation based off the little information we’re given, which is usually just whatever we see. What started off as a defence mechanism in more primitive times has shifted. Now, instead of worrying if something is poisonous, or bigger and stronger than you, you just have to worry if you’re going to waste your time, have your heart ripped out, and be left for dead handcuffed to an abandoned ship’s console.”

Daichi blinked in surprise at the almost-venomous tone the other man took on at the end, and sat up. “Kuroo…” 

Kuroo waved a hand dismissively, his eyes lazily following the wisps of storm clouds. Shadows from the undulating clouds above rolled over the features of his face, but somehow never tamped the glint of amber in his eyes. 

Daichi watched Kuroo closely, taking in the smaller details of the man that he missed originally. There were small scars that made their way up Kuroo’s arm, and along the edges of his face. The only time Daichi had seen scars like that was when a glass panel had failed safety and an unsuspecting tech protected her face with her arms against the falling glass. From the way they were sitting, Daichi could only really see the one arm, but he’d wager there were similar scars on the other. To Daichi’s surprise, Kuroo also had his left ear pierced. A quick glance confirmed that it was just the one lobe done, a small black stud secured in it. From what Daichi could tell, Kuroo seemed like a man who cared -- cared a lot -- but kept everything close to his chest. Kuroo had taken a risk taking Daichi back to his own ship and making sure he had been okay. Kuroo had noticed Daichi’s hesitation with sharing the files and ship specs. But, Daichi thought, Kuroo had also closed off after saying something that probably brought old memories and feelings to surface. 

They sat like that, in silence, for what seemed like ages. 

After some time, Daichi cleared his throat, clasping his hands between his knees and leaning forward on his elbow. He watched the scars on his hands stretch and go white, then rush back with colour, as he fidgeted, rolling his hands around each other and tugging at his fingers.

“I, uh, I’m not the type of person to jump to conclusions. I like taking my time forming my opinion. I tend not to react impulsively to things, and Suga used to tease me all the time about being an old man for it.” Daichi smiled faintly, thinking about his friend. “I’m sure you have a colourful past that’s filled with people who jumped to conclusions and made assumptions about you, just like I’m sure you’ve looked past those people’s opinions and have helped them anyways. I’d like to get to know you, Kuroo. I’d like to form an opinion. If you’ll give me that chance, that is.” Daichi bit the inside of his cheek and, not for the first time, wondered if he had said too much. It just felt  _ good _ to be able to talk to someone again. Especially someone like Kuroo who somehow managed to provoke and soothe in the same breath. He glanced up in time to catch the look of surprise on Kuroo’s face. It was there for all of a moment, and then his cat-like smile slid back into place.

“Why, Sawamura. It almost sounds like you’re confessing, with a tone that serious,” Kuroo teased. 

Daichi snorted and stood up. “Fine. Opinion formed.” He ducked out of the cockpit, making his way through the ship, followed by the sound of Kuroo’s laughter. 

 

When Kuroo caught up to him, he was already in the greenhouse and disassembling some of the unused shelving. Daichi pointed to a toolkit near the door before continuing to work on the section he was at. 

They worked in a comfortable silence for some time. Daich had wordlessly implemented a system of shuffling plants out into the lab’s work space as Kuroo moved around, unfastening screws and supports. When Kuroo moved onto the next shelf, Daichi would come and take the pieces apart, laying them in organized piles, before moving to empty the next section. 

“I’d like that, by the way,” Kuroo mused after a while of being caught up in his own thoughts. 

Daichi looked up, his brow creased in confusion. 

“Getting to know each other.” He cleared his throat slightly, ducking his head closer to the fastenings he was undoing in the hope that Daichi wouldn’t see the pink tinge to his ears. When Daichi didn’t respond right way, Kuroo started rambling. “I mean, it would only make sense. We’re going to be seeing a lot of each other the next little while, and with your best friend being so close to my crew it would probably be beneficial for us to get along, and -- why are you laughing?” Kuroo nearly pouted, though he couldn’t deny the way Daichi’s laughter made him want to say something -- anything -- that would keep the sound going. 

Daichi had stopped in his tracks when Kuroo started talking, a bundle of shelving material under one arm. He grinned at the taller man, wiping away sweat at his hairline with the back of his hand. 

“I didn’t know you were the type for nervous rambling. It’s nice, knowing someone like you is still human,” Daichi said, completely oblivious to the weird flop Kuroo’s heart did. 

“Someone like me?” Kuroo repeated, and he watched a flush work its way up Daichi’s neck almost instantly. 

“Someone confident.” Daichi shrugged, trying to play down his embarrassment. “You seem like you know what you’re doing. You seem a lot cooler than some pilot who got grounded by a small storm.” 

“Kuroo? Cool?” From the other side of the lab there was a chorus of raucous laughter, and Daichi looked over to see two other gleeful faces had joined Kenma’s in the communications screen. One had his hair buzzed close to his head, but had left enough for a blonde mohawk. The other looked smaller even than Kenma, with sandy brown hair and a grin that reminded him of Suga. 

“Tora, Yaku,” Kuroo warned, but any impact it his stern tone might have had was lost by the overall redness of his face. His scowl deepened when he saw that even Kenma looked highly amused. 

Daichi set down the shelving that he had been carrying before picking up the bizarre mushroom-shaped tree, careful not to disturb any of the hanging branches too much. He looked to Kuroo, seeming nonplussed by the laughter of the Cattail crew.

“If you want to grab one of the piles of shelving, we can get started moving everything to my ship,” he said with a small smile before turning and heading to the doors separating the dome from his ship. 

When Daichi turned his back, Kuroo narrowed his eyes at the three on the screen. He scoffed at their innocent smiles before tucking the screwdriver he’d been using into his back pocket and picking up one of the piles Daichi had set aside. He hurried over to where Daichi was waiting, unable to stop the appreciative glance-over he gave the captain of the Crow’s Wing, wondering silently how heavy the potted plant had to be to make his arms bulge like  _ that _ . From the snickering behind him, he realized he might not have been as subtle as he had wanted. Thankfully Daichi hadn’t been looking, Kuroo thought. 

Glancing over his shoulder to make sure Kuroo was following him, Daichi continued through and down a separate part of the ship Kuroo hadn’t seen originally. It branched off the main hallway that took them to both the cargo bay and the cockpit, and wound up to a higher level, thankfully with ramps and not stairs. Daichi stopped in front of a panel door and used his elbow to hit a pad beside it. The door opened with a soft hiss. 

The cabin room had a desk, a dresser, a bed big enough to snugly fit two, and a long cubby shelf built into the wall above the bed. It had a soft ring of light around the tops of the soft grey walls that cast few shadows. Without the desk it might have been an alright space, but with it, it seemed cramped. Definitely not someplace Kuroo would want to be assigned to for long periods of time. 

“How many rooms does this place have?” Kuroo asked as he set the shelving down in a corner.

“Four, though this is the largest room.” Daichi squatted, setting the plant down in front of the dresser. 

Before Kuroo could accuse himself of staring, he turned and started shuffling the desk out the door. “Not really built for comfort, is it?” Kuroo frowned slightly, leaning against the piece of furniture out in the hall momentarily, only looking back into the room confidently when he was sure Daichi had stood back up. 

Daichi shrugged a shoulder. “It never needed to be. We spent a lot of times in communal areas, and none of the crew I took with me were ever intimately involved so it’s not like we had to worry about space being much of an issue.” 

“You never brought anyone back home, Sawamura?” Kuroo smiled crookedly, watching the other closely. 

Daichi chuckled a bit, meeting Kuroo’s eyes evenly. “Would you be shocked to hear me say yes?” 

That piqued Kuroo’s interest. He pushed away from the desk, stepping back into the room. “Oho? Suga’s poor, sweet captain Sawamura has some sexy stories? Are we sharing?” 

“I’m no saint, Kuroo.” 

Kuroo tilted his head a bit, leaning his hip against the doorway as he openly looked Daichi over. He hummed slightly in thought, before shrugging. “Maybe no saint, but you sure are a bit of a legend, from all of the stories Suga tells.” 

“I wish I could say that I’d hope they’re only good ones, but knowing Suga? You’ve probably only heard the ones from my most embarrassing moments.” Daichi paused at that, gave a full body shudder, then started sorting through the shelving pieces. He glanced up when Kuroo tapped his shoulder with the screwdriver. Smiling thankfully, he took it and started assembling the shelving. 

“Like the one about the vice-director’s wig?” 

The screwdriver stopped mid-turn, and Daichi slowly turned to look at Kuroo, his expression pleasant, with a dissociative smile in place. “Yes. Like that one,” he said calmly before looking back to what he was doing. 

Kuroo made a mental note to never bring it up again… in Daichi’s presence. 

“I’ll start hauling shelving in here, but don’t think you’ve gotten out of the spaceport floozy conversation, Sa’amura,” Kuroo said teasingly. 

Daichi chuckled faintly and waved a hand over his shoulder in response before standing up to make sure that everything was sturdy against the wall. If he thought anything of the impromptu nickname, he said nothing of it. For some reason that disappointed Kuroo, but he pushed the feeling aside and went back to the greenhouse in the lab. 

They worked in silence, only exchanging brief words whenever one needed the other to move. Slowly the room started looking like the greenhouse had, lined with plants and charts and watering equipment. 

“I really hope none of this moves around when we get this ship off the ground.” Daichi frowned, looking around at everything. 

“We still have time. We can figure out a way to fix everything in place so at worst you get some rustled leaves,” Kuroo offered, pulling the material of his fitted shirt away from his chest. He had done majority of the legwork, running back and forth between the old greenhouse and the new, even moving the plants with direction from Daichi on which not to make skin contact with. 

Daichi nodded in agreement after a moment’s thought. He turned slowly, eyeing the shelves. 

“What’re you thinking?” 

“I think I want a garden when I go home,” Daichi said after a moment. “Let’s go see how much longer Kenma is going to be.” He clapped his hand on Kuroo’s shoulder before moving past him out into the hall. 

Kuroo could picture it as clearly as if the sight were in front of his eyes that moment: Daichi crouched down, tending to a garden outside of a small home, looking completely at ease with himself and the world around him. 

He set his hands on his hips and exhaled slowly through clenched teeth. It seemed unnatural how quickly the two had  _ clicked _ , fit together by a series of unlikely situations, and part of Kuroo felt bad for not being respectful of Daichi’s experience. Another part of him could just as easily picture himself working on that garden outside of that small home, shoulder to shoulder with Daichi. The stories Suga told of Daichi could hardly compete with the real thing, and Kuroo was having a hard time wrapping his brain around the fractured perfection that was Sawamura Daichi -- broken and bruised but no less wonderful through the tarnish.

“Oh boy,” he mumbled to himself before actively trying to think of faults Daichi might have. Maybe he slurped his soup too loud, or forgot to take out the garbage. He didn’t snore, so Kuroo could rule that one out, but maybe… 

“Kuroo?” Daichi’s head poked back into the room, startling him. “You coming?” 

“Yup,” he said, voice cracking slightly. He cleared his throat before trying again. “Yup, be right there. Was just thinking of ways to better secure some of the pots.” 

Daichi eyed him suspiciously before nodding and heading back out into the hall. Kuroo dutifully followed this time, making sure to hit the pad beside the door so it hissed shut. 

“You said that was the largest room?” 

Daichi hummed an affirmative.

“So you’re going to sleep in a closet on the way back home?” 

“Good thing I won’t have a spaceport floozy taking up space then, isn’t it?” Daichi cracked a smirk, glancing back to Kuroo over his shoulder before stepping into the lab. “Kenma, have you figured anything out that we can do from our end before you make a trip tomorrow?” 

The blonde looked up from something off-screen, observant eyes studying the two of them before focusing on Kuroo, almost knowingly. “No, but I’ve almost finished compiling a list of replacement parts. We have most of them on our ship. The ones we don’t, we can do some alterations to make it work until we get back home and have it properly serviced.” 

Daichi nodded slightly. “While you’re running that, would you be able to recalibrate the environment of the main cabin room on the ship? The data for the greenhouse should be among the files you accessed. As close to that as you can would be appreciated. I don’t want to interrupt anything you might be running.” 

“Appreciated.” Kenma nodded once before seeming to focus on something else again. 

“Captain.” The sandy-haired man from before popped into the screen behind Kenma’s chair. “Bo sent through an invite for when we get back. Said to bring your new b-” The teasing smile he had on his face swapped to a more polite one as his eyes floated over to where Daichi was standing, as if remembering that he were there. “Said to bring your _ guest _ , if he wanted.” 

“Bo?” Daichi arched a brow. 

“Bokuto Koutarou of Fukurodani. Great pilot. Probably one of the best in the Coalition. Likes a bit of friendly competition. Sometimes runs a bit of a… casual get-together for pilots,” Kuroo said carefully, waving a hand in a vague gesture as if the information were no big deal, though his eyes were sharp on Daichi, watching for a reaction. 

The corner of Daichi’s mouth twitched up slightly before he nodded. “Casual get-together, huh? Sure, why not,” he agreed easily before turning to look at the clock on the wall. He frowned slightly, then glanced over to the now-empty greenhouse. 

“Something troubling you, Sawamura?” 

“Just took longer than I expected. Hungry?” 

“Kenma, can’t you make the screen smaller or something? Feels like we’re intruding on their date.” 

“Yaku,” Kuroo said slowly, the tips of his ears and back of his neck red.

Yaku grinned before the comm screen faded, a blinking light still active on the communications panel.

“That’s really not much better,” Daichi said with a chuckle before walking to the living quarters in the dome. “At least we can pretend we have privacy if we can walk away from a floating head.” 

Kuroo hummed in agreement as he followed Daichi back into the living quarters.

“Are there any rooms that don’t connect directly to the comm system?” he asked, watching Daichi inquisitively as the other put on water for tea. 

“The bathrooms here and on the ship, and the cabin rooms on the ship as well. Those can only be accessed if someone in the room starts up the comms, or manually accepts them.” 

Kuroo nodded, leaning his hip against the table, his arms folded comfortably across his chest. He watched the way Daichi moved around the small kitchenette like he had always used it. Four years definitely created a lot of familiarity with one’s surroundings, he supposed. When the kettle went off not long after it had been started, Kuroo arched a brow. 

“Even our water doesn’t heat that fast. What did you do?” 

“Ah, the water is already quite warm when it’s brought up through the piping. There are thermal vents all over this planet, and they heat the ground water before it reaches the surface, kind of like the hot springs back home do.” 

Kuroo’s eyes widened slightly. “Is that so?” 

“You’ll probably get your last hot bath from this planet before we head back,” Daichi said, nodding. He held Kuroo’s tea out for him then turned back to the drawers, looking through each of them in turn silently. From the way his eyebrows drew together, Kuroo could only assume he was thinking. “How hungry are you?” He finally said, looking to Kuroo again. 

“Hungry enough that I could eat, but not hungry enough that I would eat you.” 

Daichi blinked a few times in surprise before bursting out into laughter. “Well,” he said. “That’s one way to put it.” He took a sip of his tea before using his fingers to tear apart a small yellow lump into almost perfectly equal pieces. 

“Do you need a hand?” Kuroo pushed away from the table to stand upright. 

Daichi waved a hand dismissively, popping a piece of yellow whatever-that-was into his mouth before continuing to cut whatever it was he had on the counter in front of him. “Sit down. You already did a lot today.” 

Kuroo arched a brow. It wasn’t in his nature to just watch, so he slid in beside Daichi at the counter. “How can I help?” Daichi paused for a full moment, but it didn’t seem to be hesitation so Kuroo stayed where he was, eyes trained on the other captain.  

After a moment, Daichi cleared his throat and handed Kuroo the knife. “Finish dicing this?” He slid the cutting board over. On top, mostly already cut into thin strips, was what Kuroo could only guess was a vegetable, orange in colour and looking stringy in texture. “Tell me about yourself. If you know Suga, then you already know more about me than I know about you,” he added as he turned on an element, setting a pan over it. 

Kuroo glanced over with a quick smirk. “Are we going back to playing twenty questions, Sa’amura?” 

“How else are we going to kill time?” 

“I can think of several things, but they would be wholly inappropriate given that Kenma is most likely still listening in,” Kuroo said thoughtfully as he diced the orange food. He was surprised by how tough the meat of it was. 

“No I’m not,” came a smooth response from somewhere in the direction of the communications panel. 

Daichi rolled his eyes with an amused smile, the tips of his ears pink. “Does that mean you were offering to be the spaceport floozy, Kuroo? I’m flattered.” 

Kuroo’s shoulders shook with a surprised laugh. “I’m offended, Sa’amura. Clearly I’m quality enough to be an upper-tier space station escort,” he followed with a slow smile, leaning down into Daichi’s space.

 

It was fun teasing Kuroo, Daichi decided. He made it too easy to get a reaction, which had Daichi of the belief that there might be an interest there. With Kuroo leaning into his personal space, Daichi hummed in thought, looking Kuroo over with a slowly sweeping gaze. He turned, an arm moving past Kuroo’s hip so they were hardly a hand width apart, and gave Kuroo a crooked smile of his own. He leaned in closer, hand reaching. 

“Clearly,” he agreed simply, withdrawing with the cutting board in hand just as Kuroo started leaning down, amber eyes almost molten. 

He gave Kuroo another quick smile before turning, adding the diced vegetable into the pan with the rest of the meal. He could feel the weight of Kuroo’s gaze on the side of his face, but he stayed focused on making their meal, knowing that if he acknowledged the warmth that radiated from Kuroo standing so close, he would also have to acknowledge the way his heart was jackhammering in his chest. After a moment, Kuroo stepped back and leaned his hip against the edge of the counter, arms crossing over his chest. 

“Okay, Sawamura. What do you want to know?” 

“You seem close to your crew. Known them for long?” 

“Kenma I’ve known since I was a kid. Tora and Yaku I met through our DIrector when they signed up to be pilots. There are a couple of others that sometimes run with us, but it’s just the four of us this time around.” 

Daichi nodded slightly. Pretty standard crew, then. He hadn’t known Suga since he was a kid, but they had known each other for about a year before signing on with Karasuno. The answer felt stale. Something about Kuroo wanted to make him dig deeper. Learn more. Be closer. “What were you afraid of as a kid?” 

Kuroo might a small sound of surprise and Daichi paused from plating their food, looking over to make sure he was okay. He waved a hand slightly before clearing his throat. “I, uh, I used to think there was this monster that would follow me from shadow to shadow.” He wasn’t looking Daichi in the eye, instead choosing to stare up at the paneled ceiling to the storm. “I had this stuffed cat -- fucking ugly thing, honestly -- that I’d carry with me everywhere. Its tail could transform into a lightsaber, like those really old movies, so it protected me.” He finally looked down with a crooked smile, the slight blush of embarrassment on the crests of his cheeks. “Not really, obviously, but...” He shrugged, not continuing. 

Daichi found himself smiling. He could almost picture it: a scaled down version of Kuroo, all knees and bad hair, clutching a raggedy looking cat almost as big as he was to his chest. “Is that where you got the name of your ship?” He handed Kuroo the plate of curiously coloured food before crossing to sit at the small table. 

“Maybe,” Kuroo admitted sheepishly with a bit of a chuckle as they sat. 

Daichi nodded thoughtfully, taking a couple bites of his food. He didn’t have the means to make anything fancy, but in his opinion he had figured out a sort of local cuisine based on dishes he knew how to make back home. He had decided to make a sort of stir fry that night, doing what he could with what he had left in the kitchenette seeing as the storm forced him to postpone his foraging plans. The dish with local vegetation was alright, but it was lacking  _ something _ he had yet to find on the planet. 

“When did you start racing?” Daichi asked after their plates had been half cleared. 

Kuroo blinked in surprise. Sure Bo had been brought up, but he hadn’t specified racing, had he? “Doesn’t twenty questions go back and forth, Sawamura? Maybe there are things I want to know about you, too,” he said with a chuckle. When Daichi just blinked at him he smiled. “About six years ago, I think? I’ve known Bokuto for years, but I was always running some job so I wasn’t able to attend during his first few years of hosting.” 

“If you could warn your younger self about something, what would you say?” 

Kuroo chuckled, leaning back in his chair momentarily. He looked across the table to Daichi in amusement, chewing the inside of his lip. “Very hard hitting questions, Sawamura.” 

“How else am I going to know you?” 

“It’s starting to really feel like a bona fide sleepover now.” 

“Oh? Does that mean you’ll let me do something about your hair?” 

Kuroo leaned back with a loud laugh, his entire body shaking with the sound. Daichi watched in amusement, lacing his fingers together on the table, his plate now empty and pushed away a bit to make the extra room. The sound bordered on obnoxious, but Daichi thought he could listen to it forever. He’d probably lost his mind during his isolation.  

Kuroo stood, picking up their plates and bringing them to the sink. He rinsed the plates and put them in the sanitizer like Daichi had done earlier then hesitated a moment. Daichi felt concern roll cold and heavy through his gut at the frown he saw darkening Kuroo’s expression. When Kuroo nodded towards the comms panel, Daichi nodded in understanding. 

“How about I show you the bath now? Though, I’m warning you. You won’t want to leave the planet once you’ve been in it,” Daichi said easily, tone betraying nothing. 

The tension releasing from the lines of Kuroo’s face told Daichi he’d guessed right. 

 

Kuroo didn’t live with a lot of regret. He was very much of the opinion that cause and effect was the natural way of things and that if something happened, chances were that it happened because he had done something to initiate it. 

Did he regret having had to evade death twice by the age of twenty-seven? It wasn’t his favourite pastime, and he certainly wouldn’t recommend it to anyone he cared about, but he couldn’t say that he necessarily  _ regretted  _ it. The experiences had, after all, taught him many things about himself and the people around him - particularly the ones who had made active attempts on his life. 

“I’m sorry, what did you say?” Kuroo asked when he realized Daichi was staring at him expectantly. His brain had scattered the moment Daichi had reached over to wipe a bit of dirt off his neck. 

Daichi looked at him with an amused smile. “I said I didn’t expect you to track half the greenhouse around with you. Did you want to wash up while we’re in here?” He gestured to the tub. 

The thing was huge, Kuroo noted. Even with his height and armspan, he could probably float in the middle, spread out, and not touch any of the edges unless he deliberately reached for the benches that ran along the front and back of the feature. It reminded him of the more private pools in bathhouses. He walked over to the edge of the tub and dipped a hand into the water, looking back to Daichi with surprise. The water was hot, but he knew Daichi hadn’t been in recently to draw the bath. He could only guess it was from a constant feed from the heated underground water Daichi had mentioned. Upon closer inspection, he saw there were in fact two openings that, if he watched closely enough, he could see the water being fed in and out of the tub through. 

“I can step out if you want the privacy,” Daichi continued when Kuroo didn’t respond, choosing instead to just run his hand through the water. 

Kuroo’s heart jumped into his throat and he shook his head, hopefully not too quickly. “No,” he said, clearing his throat. “That’s fine. Unless you’re too shy for public bathing.” He crooked a slanted smile at Daichi in a silent challenge. 

When Daichi simply arched a brow then started undressing, Kuroo looked away quickly.

Did he regret following Daichi into a room slightly smaller than the one they had slept in, one that they were now both undressing in? No. But he had some very specific thoughts about the ease of his interactions with Daichi. He had known the other for a short period of time, despite feeling like he’d known him for years from Suga’s stories, but it still wasn’t in-line with his character to just openly trust someone. Maybe it was because no matter the way he looked at it, Daichi was at a disadvantage but had been nothing but open with him. He was sure he would have some thoughts about it once he was separated from the situation -- from those brown eyes that were kept respectfully averted as Kuroo sank into the water. 

But, for the life of him, sitting on a ledge that ran the length of the bath, with his legs fully stretched out to rest on the opposite ledge, he couldn’t think of what those thoughts might be. Kuroo leaned his head back, his arms stretched out along the edge of the large bath and he sighed heavily in contentment. The water itself felt heavier than what he was used to, and it was a murky light green colour, like poorly steeped tea, but it was just the right temperature and Kuroo found himself relaxing. 

“Sawamura,” he damn near crooned. “This is heavenly. How are you ever going to go back to some old tub back home when you have  _ this _ experience?” 

Daichi chuckled, wiping a hand down his face. He had settled himself on the opposite side so that his feet were propped up on the ledge a little ways away from Kuroo’s hip. 

“Who knows? Maybe I’ll reject everything the world has become and come back here to this little purple planet and enjoy my hot baths and terrifying spider-aliens and silence.” Daichi looked over at him, amusement clear on his features. 

Kuroo lifted his head back up, looking across to Daichi. He studied the other a moment, taking in the way his eyes creased at the corners with his smile. Daichi looked happy, Kuroo decided. Unguarded. For the first time in the day and a half since landing, Kuroo could say he didn’t see shadows as present in Daichi’s eyes. They were still there, but they weren’t at the forefront of his mind, it seemed. He could only hope that he had a hand in easing them away. 

“I think Karasuno needs you too much for you to turn your back on a changed world,” Kuroo said, surprisingly quiet even to his own ears.  

“Perhaps,” was all Daichi said in response, his head tilting up to look at the ceiling tiles that had been adjusted for them to see the storm clearly. The shadows were back in his eyes, and Kuroo could feel himself frown at their sudden return, guilt coiling heavy in his chest knowing he brought them back with the mention of Karasuno and the world that refused to stand still until Daichi returned to it. 

“Kenma figures the storm should let up enough that he and Tora can make it to the ship tomorrow mid-morning. Are you getting excited?” 

“Do you know how bizarre it is to hope for a rescue when you never actually expect one to come?” Daichi asked instead. His eyes followed the swirling clouds. 

Kuroo frowned and leaned forward, his feet moving off the ledge so he could sit upright properly. “Daichi,” he said firmly, waiting for the other to look at him before continuing. “It’s okay to not be okay. You’ve experienced a trauma very few will be able to understand. We’ll find a way to tow you behind us if we have to, but we’re going to bring you home. You’re not alone anymore.” 

Daichi turned a watery smile towards Kuroo, then cleared his throat and chuckled a bit. “So? What’s your damage? Why the secrecy?” He asked, waving a hand gesturing to the bathroom as a whole. 

Kuroo could  _ feel _ his smile become less genuine; could feel the way it pulled a bit too tight at the corners as a familiar ache settled in his chest.

“And here I was hoping I could distract you with my naked body, Sa’amura,” he responded breezily, leaning back again but keeping his feet braced against the bottom of the tub. His right hand absently traced some of the scarring on his other forearm, watching the way the water moved around his limbs. When Daichi remained silent, he sighed. “It’s a long story, and you’ll have to trust me that now’s not the time to share it. But I’d tell a younger me not to give that girl my meal card.” 

He could see the object recognition, but general confusion on Daichi’s face, but he ignored it. Instead, he wiped a hand down his face with a heavy drop to his shoulders, doing his best not to think about large brown eyes and a sweet smile that morphed into something acidic and snake-like. He could feel the phantom pains of restraining cuffs around his wrists, and the sharp bite of glass in his forearms when--

Calloused but steady hands cradled his face, their touch gentle. Kuroo’s eyes refocused and he was surprised to see Daichi leaning so close to him, having stood from his seat across the tub. He wrapped his fingers loosely around Daichi’s wrists, leaning into the touch despite himself. 

“I guess we’re both a bit broken, Sawamura. I’m sorry for bringing the mood down when you’ve been nothing but hospitable since our arrival.” Kuroo offered a smile, but it was a shadow of its usual angle. 

Daichi shook his head, his thumbs rubbing against the crests of Kuroo’s cheeks soothingly. “Our experiences may help shape us, but they don’t define us, Kuroo. Whoever failed your trust back then doesn’t have any power over you now unless you let them.” Daichi’s hands withdrew, and he moved to sit back down. A patch of discolouration on Daichi’s side drew Kuroo’s attention, and he could feel his jaw go slack at the angry looking scar that stretched over Daichi’s hip and up his side, arching to beneath his right pectoral. When Daichi leaned back against the side of the tub, the scar was submerged under the green water, the redness of it dulled so that it barely looked visible. 

“What happened there?”  

“Ah,” Daichi sighed, glancing down. His hand moved to cover the curve of the scar on his chest. “Those creatures that attacked while you were landing; I had been marooned here for four months, so I wasn’t overly familiar with the terrain or wildlife yet. I went out to collect samples but I failed to notice I was walking near a nest. There was only one that time, but it was the first I’d seen anything like it and it caught me off guard. If the thing’s claw hadn’t hit a branch, I probably would have been carrying my guts home, if I’d made it back at all.” 

“Shit, did you have to kill it, or were you able to get away?” Kuroo propped an elbow up on the edge of the tub behind him, eyebrows raised in interest. 

“Had to kill it. It took ages. I couldn’t get my arc staff out fast enough and had to jump around a bit to avoid any more swipes. They’re  _ fast _ .” 

“But you got your staff out eventually, right? You didn’t have to use some little field knife against one of  _ those _ things?” 

“Eventually, yeah.” 

“And then you managed to get away, come back here and take care of yourself? Shit,” Kuroo repeated then whistled low, and looked at Daichi, knowing he looked impressed but not bothering to even try and hide that. Daichi more than deserved his open admiration for surviving on his own the past four years, in Kuroo’s mind. And if that open admiration made Daichi’s cheeks go even more red than the hot water had them flushing, then that was just an added bonus. 

**Author's Note:**

> Comments are always appreciated; please let me know what you thought!


End file.
